And what about me? I wondered. My clients’ faces came to me. A smiling, nodding face; a sullen, unhappy one. Even the faces of those clients whose names I couldn’t recall immediately rose up in my mind’s eye, one after the other. It was true: the ones who had trained me were – no doubt about it – my clients. Kazune’s solemn face now appeared to me, but as soon as it did I saw her break into a smile.

A True Master Is Forever a Pupil

The day before the wedding I arrived to tune the piano at the restaurant where the reception was to be held. The ambience of the place was warm and inviting, with the grand piano installed in one corner of the attractive dining area.

It was a finer class of piano than I’d been expecting, since Mr Yanagi had told me they’d prioritized food over the quality of the instrument. Keeping my excitement in check, I opened up the fallboard – only for my heart to plummet to my boots the moment I laid eyes on the keyboard. A closer inspection was enough to confirm my worst fears. The height of the keys was misaligned by about 0.5 mm, some higher, some lower. I tapped on a few notes and found my misgivings were justified. The sound was all over the place.

I pictured Kazune playing it. Seated at this piano in her sixth-form-college uniform, she would do her level best – although would she even be wearing her uniform to a wedding reception? Probably not, yet I couldn’t imagine her wearing anything else. I pictured her playing, her posture erect, delicately running her fingers up and down the keyboard. And the sounds she would create flowed like water from a cool, clear spring into my ears.

I struck a few more notes on the piano in front of me. No, this was in no way fit for Kazune – I didn’t want to make her play this as it was. So keeping her constantly in mind, I set about tuning the instrument.

I lifted and propped open the lid. It still moves me every single time I see the tuning pins all neatly arranged inside, like so many trees in the forest. The soundboard made of spruce sends pulses of vibration racing out at thousands of metres per second. This was where I would help create Kazune’s sound. This was where I would neatly part the undergrowth to make it easier for her to enter the forest.